I'm not here to defend the movie or anything, but the reasons for doing it were perfectly good for me. "A movie that's pretty much dismissed and reviled, something like xXx 2. But I've made some movies that to me were interesting enough and people really didn't respond to them, because they had shallow roots." In those kind of movies it's hard for the hook to be the material. But I'm less secure with that kind of thing, because I don't feel as turned on. Also I think sometimes it's good to make some money, sometimes it's good to be in a movie that's widely seen, sometimes it's good to make a movie movie entertainment. "Those aren't usually the movies I go to, which tells you something, but I can't absolutely snub them. I always feel sentimental about people come together 'for the greater good' kind of way, and that's what it felt like."Ĭould you ever see yourself in a Michael Bay or a McG movie? Charlotte knows why she's there, I know why I'm there. He's very thoughtful and he's very smart, so that sets the tone. We saw each other naked for the first time in front of the camera. I touched her the first time in front of the camera. I kissed her the first time in front of the camera. "Practical! How are we going to do this? Whose testicles are we talking about? How soft is that piece of wood?"ĭid you get to build a relationship with Charlotte before you started shooting? What was your first reaction when you read the script and found out your character got his genitals crushed? Going to the theatre is a voluntary act." we did worse! Nobody's putting a gun to anybody's head to see this. Were you surprised that some of the more extreme scenes got past the censors? I think with a little time and a more thoughtful evaluation I think the critics should respond to it." I think it lingers, it haunts, and if you have to decide how you feel about it immediately I think it's almost impossible to enjoy, because then its more extreme elements kind of separate out from it. They're watching all these movies, and a difficult, complex movie like this, from the get-go they know that in one and a half hours they've got to say how they feel about this thing. What gets reported as the premiere was the press screening, and I feel a little like a schoolboy making that distinction. "The premiere was fantastic, a dream screening. How did you feel with the reception the film got at Cannes? This is more poetic, because some of the stuff is hard to account for, but it has a great smell, it has a great taste to me." Cat and mouse, scare them, make them worry, give them titillation. Horror films are usually about playing games with the audience. We still deal with the content of the story and the relationship that's been set up, even as it gets a little crazier. Horror films feel slightly different to this. I think it uses the language of horror, but that creates a weird expectation. Would you agree that Antichrist is a "horror film"? But he's truly sincere in the respect that he cares and he puts everything into what he does." What Lars never gets enough credit for is that he's deeply sincere, and he would die if he heard me say that. You hear these crazy stories about how perverse he can be, but he really invited us to help him, and that's a powerful place to be when the guy is as smart as he is, as talented as he is and as committed to this material as he was. "Only in that it created a bond between us and it made him a little more vulnerable and us a little stronger, in terms of the collaboration. But he was on it, and in the course of the movie he seemed to get stronger and stronger and now he's even stronger yet."ĭid that fragility transfer into the movie? He just seemed less fit and more fragile. Physically he was much shakier, he couldn't operate the camera anymore, which was a big deal, because he operated the camera a lot on Manderlay. Was Lars different to work with after his well-documented depression? It's hard to find movies that have content about adult things." I went crazy for the material, I thought it was really good. So I told him, enough that he said, 'Well why don't you do it?' And it was like that. I called him up and he said he was working on this thing and sent me the script. "I knew Lars a little bit because I worked with him on Manderlay and I felt a connection with him. Ahead of the UK release of Lars Von Trier's shocking Antichrist, we spoke to Willem about the film, its director, and his defence of xXx 2. He's also taken on key parts in movies by iconic auteurs from Oliver Stone and David Lynch to Sam Raimi and David Cronenberg, while having time to appear in Mr Bean's Holiday.
In 1998 he upset more than a few people when he played Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ. Willem Dafoe is no stranger to controversy.